International: UIC Locomotive Emission Standards

Background

Emission standards for railway locomotives have been established by the International Union of Railways (Union Internationale des Chemins de fer, UIC), a Paris-based association of European railway companies. UIC issues technical leaflets on railway equipment and components, which are termed “standards” and are binding to member railways. Emission standards for rail locomotives are specified in UIC Leaflet 624, published in April 2002 and titled “Exhaust emission tests for diesel traction engines”.

The UIC emission standards apply to diesel engines for railway traction, with the exception of engines for special locomotives (e.g., refinery or mine locomotives) and traction engines with an output of less than 100 kW. The standards apply to all new engines used in new vehicles or for repowering of existing locomotives.

Emission Standards

The UIC locomotive emission standards are listed in the following table. The test method is ISO 8178, cycle F.

Table 1 UIC Locomotive Emission Standards

Stage

Date

Power, P

Speed, n

CO

HC

NOx

PM

Smoke

kW

rpm

g/kWh

BSN

UIC I

up to 2002.12.31

3

0.8

12

-

1.6-2.5a

UIC II

2003.1.1

P ≤ 560

2.5

0.6

6.0

0.25

P > 560

n > 1000

3

0.8

9.5

0.25b

n ≤ 1000

3

0.8

9.9

0.25b

a - Bosch smoke number (BSN) = 1.6 for engines with an air throughput of above 1 kg/s; BSN = 2.5 for engines below 0.2 kg/s; linear BSN interpolation applies between these two values.
b - For engines above 2200 kW, a PM emission of 0.5 g/kWh is accepted on an exceptional basis until 2004.12.31.